Second Year Core Studio for Design

Design Studio I

Design Studio I is the first course in a series of four-credit studios required in the new Bachelor of Arts in Design curriculum, initiated in the Fall of 2022. Building upon foundational skills explored in Fundamentals of Design and Making (DESG-1005), we will expand skills for observation, analysis, and creative problem-solving through a rigorous and iterative design process.

This studio focuses on organizational structures that are observed in nature and the built environment. The ability to analyze patterns is an essential skill for a designer. In honing a sensitivity to this type of observation, the semester will be divided into 4 phases.

In Phase 1, you will develop relationships from single geometric shapes and create tessellations based on a rigorous organizational grid. In Phase 2, you will mine a natural specimen for systems of structure. Work generated from these investigations will inform a three-dimensional exploration in Phase 3, coalescing form and function. The semester ends with Phase 4, an opportunity to fuse your projects into a single design effort.

The goals of this design studio are threefold: 1) to develop your facility with the language of design; 2) to generate design concepts through the process of observation, analysis, and iteration; 3) to negotiate external parameters of a design project such as user experience and site characteristics.

Building knowledge through the hand, the eye, and the critical mind is the overarching objective for all studios within the design curriculum. Students will represent design ideas through 2D and 3D modeling, both physically (by hand) and digitally (in virtual space). This studio curriculum will build students’ capacity for analytical thinking, creative problem-solving, and material exploration. We will focus on visual and verbal communication throughout the design process

STUDENT WORK

FACULTY

Nick Perrin (coordinator), Jonathan House